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Jazz pianist Herbie Hancock’s first major initiative since being named a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador last July is to establish International Jazz Day to be held annually on April 30, which coincides with the last day of what has been celebrated as Jazz Appreciation Month in theU.S.

This year’s inaugural event — organized by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in partnership with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, which Hancock chairs — will include star-studded concerts in Paris, New Orleans and New York as well as jazz-related events in several dozen countries from Algeria to Uruguay, reports the AP.

Hancock said it was easy getting support for his proposal from the 195-member U.N. cultural organization “because so many countries have been affected in crucial ways over the years by the presence of jazz.”

“Jazz has been the voice of freedom for so many countries over the past half century,” Hancock told AP ahead of today’s official announcement of International Jazz Day. “This is really about the international diplomatic aspect of jazz and how it has throughout a major part of its history been a major force in bringing people of various countries and cultures together.”

The official kick-off will be on April 27 with an all-day program at UNESCO Headquarters inParisthat will include master classes, roundtable discussions and improvisational workshops. An evening concert will feature Hancock, Dee Dee Bridgewater, South Africa’s Hugh Masekela andBrazil’s Tania Maria, among others.

Hancock will begin the April 30 celebrations with a sunrise concert atNew Orleans’Congo Square, the birthplace of jazz, which comes right after the first weekend of the city’s Jazz and Heritage Festival.

The concert will present local jazz luminaries Terence Blanchard, Ellis Marsalis, Dr. Michael White, Kermit Ruffins and the Treme Brass Brand. Hancock plans to perform his funky standard “Watermelon Man” with high school students from around the world via an Internet link.

He then will fly toNew Yorkfor a sunset all-star jazz concert for the international diplomatic corps at the U.N. General Assembly Hall to be hosted by Morgan Freeman, Robert DeNiro, Michael Douglas and Quincy Jones. The concert will be streamed live via the U.N. and UNESCO websites.